Dissecting the Dead
with David Dodd

Author of The Complete Annotated
Grateful Dead Lyrics

What was the Pride of Cucamonga? Who was Tom Banjo? What could a "double-e
waterfall" possibly be? These are just a few of the questions upon which David
Dodd sheds light in his new book The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics.
Spanning the Jerry Garcia-penned Canít Come Down from 1965 to Mickey
Hartís recent composition You Remind Me, the comprehensive tome contains
all of the songs that the Grateful Dead performed, plus a few other closely
related selections, each of which is adorned with an array of fascinating facts
and intriguing cross-references. Indeed, since October 1976, when he first saw
the Grateful Dead in concert, Dodd has been gripped by an irresistible urge to
delve deeply into the bandís poetic musings. "A few years earlier, I had read The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, and I was very intrigued by the whole
Prankster culture and Tom Wolfeís great writing about it. So, I was sort of
primed," he said. "I went there to see The Who, and I wound up coming away as a
Deadhead."

"My first impression was that this was very complicated, wonderful, heartfelt
music, and I wanted to know more about it," he explained. "Iím a words guy. I
was a literature major in college."

"I remember that the Grateful Dead played They Love Each Other, and I
thought for sure that they were singing, ĎDonít you concede that itís true.í I
thought that was a weird line for a rock band," Dodd continued. "Later on, I
found out what the words Ďreally were,í but I still have that Ďhearingí in my
head. I also remember the band playing with the words to Franklinís Tower,
almost harmonizing with them as they bounced off the back wall of the venue. The
music and the words were intertwined from the get-go, and that intrigued me.
Plus, everyone around me seemed to know them all. Almost immediately, I made up
my mind to try to learn them."

Learn them, he did: Dodd began transcribing the lyrics to songs like China
Cat Sunflower from Europe í72 and Whatís Become of the Baby?
from Aoxomoxoa by repeatedly moving the needle back and forth across the
vinyl albums in an attempt to decipher what was being sung. "Once I had a clue
as to what the words were," he said, "then I started to wonder about particular
words and phrases. The people who were referred to really intrigued me,
especially in Ramble on Rose. I wondered who Crazy Otto was; I wondered
who Billy Sunday was; and although I knew who Wolfman Jack was, there was still
more to learn about him. So, I just started to track down those people."

A decade later, Blair Jacksonís ultimate fanzine The Golden Road was
in full swing, and Dodd submitted an article titled The Annotated Ramble on
Rose for him to consider. Jackson rejected it as too academic for his
publication, but Dodd wasnít dissuaded from continuing his obsessive journey.
"By that point, I was working in the real world," he continued. "I was a
reference librarian. What I did for a living was to track down weird facts. So,
I could do this in the nooks and crannies of my regular job, writing notes on
little, leftover cards from the dismantled card catalogs at the Alameda County
library."

By 1994, Doddís collection of notes had grown to fill a shoebox, and he
wisely recognized how the Internet could play a key role in moving his project
forward. He obtained permission from Ice Nine to republish the Grateful Deadís
lyrics on his newly founded website, and by transforming his passion into a
research project for the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs, he very
well may have become the first person to employ the web as a tool for literary
annotation. Soon thereafter, Dodd thought about compiling his work for a book,
but Ice Nine repeatedly deferred his requests. It wasnít until August 2004 that
he was able to win their blessing. Said Dodd, "Thatís when I really started to
have to work. I wasnít anywhere close to being done with it, even though I kept
thinking that I was."

In the end, Alan Trist from Ice Nine proved to be an invaluable resource to
Dodd as he sorted through the material from his website to create The
Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics. In particular, Trist helped him to
determine where he should expand or contract the content. "I think the website
sprawls a lot more than the book does," Dodd stated.

"We also wanted the book to look good," he continued. "Itís really hard to
make something with footnotes look good. We had a lot of debate around whether
there should be more than one color in the book, what kind of font should be
used, and how stuff should be placed on the page. My wife had this great idea
about having illustrations that were sort of like dictionary illustrations,
small things to illustrate particular points. Jim Carpenter, who did an
incredible job, drew over 200 illustrations just for this book. Then, we threw
in a few color sections, too."

The one thing that fans of the Grateful Dead wonít find in The Complete
Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics is any semblance of interpretation as to what
the songs actually mean. "That is so personal, and I donít think itís
responsible to set that stuff down," said Dodd. "To even limit anybodyís hearing
or interpretation by the mere fact of setting the lyrics down on paper or having
them in liner notes...I hope that we can continue to leave the door open to
alternate hearings."

"The lyrics change constantly in how I hear them and what they mean to me,"
he continued. "Just the other night, I was in Eugene, and I went to a Dark Star
Orchestra concert to do a book signing. They played a show from 1976, and when
they played Cosmic Charley, that song suddenly snapped into focus for me
in a way that it never had. I had always just thought of it as sort of a little
nonsense ditty, and suddenly it seemed to be about relationships. It seemed to
be a lot like Scarlet Begonias."

"I could be totally wrong, but that doesnít matter," he stated. "It does not
matter whether any given interpretation is right or wrong. Itís what it is for
you in the moment. Because the lyrics are ambiguous, the songs have a depth to
them that you can keep going into as long as you want. I think thatís a key
thing in Robert Hunterís writing," explained Dodd.

"Thereís a great story that Hunter told in his online journal shortly after
9/11," he continued. "He was in New York City, where his daughter lost a dear
friend. He went up on the rooftop of the building in which he was staying, and
he played Terrapin Station for the city. He repeated the line Ďhold away
despairí over and over again."

"Even for the guy who writes the song," he exclaimed, "it changes in meaning
and things jump out at him. I think that is one of the reasons why he was
reluctant early on to even have the words down on paper."

Although Hunter had expressed some initial reservation and outright
skepticism regarding the project ó to use Doddís words, he was "creeped out by
it" ó in the end he came to see The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics
as an intriguing concept. In fact, he eventually contributed the bookís
foreword, which is a remarkably revealing essay about the process of lyric
writing and what it was like to compose within the framework of the Grateful
Dead. By comparison, John Barlow penned the afterword, during which he discusses
what it was like to write within the shadow of Hunter. Taken in tandem, the duo
offer a rare glimpse into the creative process that effectively sets the stage
for and characterizes the entirety of the tome.

Even so, Dodd cautions anyone from taking The Complete Annotated Grateful
Dead Lyrics too seriously, and he openly acknowledges ó and, in fact, hopes
ó to hear from countless other fans who have other tidbits of information to add
to his project. "Since the book came out, I now have confirmation from the
winery that made the label called Pride of Cucamonga back in the late í60s, that
it was, indeed, a cheap jug wine," said Dodd.

"I try to be as freewheeling as possible in the stuff that I include. Who
cares what the recipe for Lady Fingers is? But there, in the middle of St.
Stephen arrives this puerile thing about a recipe for how to make this
pastry. Hopefully, what that does is show people that theyíre free to put
whatever they want to onto this. Itís fun. Maybe somebody will go out and bake
Lady Fingers," he jokes. "Thatís all Iím up to."

The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics is available
from Barnes & Noble. To order, Click Here!